Children of a Lesser God
by I'll get to it.eventually
Summary: "What Sheila was trying to say was that Pitch is supposed to be the new Guardian. MiM says ya have something with the potential to bring the General back, if you wanted ta use it." "...what? Tell me, are you all suddenly crazy or something?" Jack has a debt and he has a mission. Pitch is an evil psycho. Kozmotis would just like his children back. GEN, book spoilers, headcanon.
1. Prologue

Jack felt a change on the winds. While the winds were nigh impossible for others to communicate with, he found it easy enough, but they don't use words so much as feelings. And right now he's feeling rather tugged-along. As his hair was ruffled and his clothed tugged at, he laughed and went limp-but-balanced, in just the right way to be caught up and swept away. "Alright, alright, what's up? Something fun?" He hopes so. The winds knew the _best_ games. And they _always_ knew where he needed to be.

It turns out that now isn't time to go on new adventures with the winds, though. As he's shot into the sky, he sees the aurora borealis, which he's been told is the signal for the Guardians meeting up. More and more often, he's been dragging them away from work and into social events, but it looks like they have to do their actual jobs this time around. Which is too bad, really, because as much fun as it was, fighting darkness could tempt you and trick you, and Jack knew all too well the consequences of that.

Soon, with the winds' help, he ends up at Santoff Claussen. He's always admired the place for its bright atmosphere—he'd built himself a home of ice at one point, and it had just seemed lonely. But the workshop was wonder and life in the middle of cold, beautiful scenery that even Jack could acknowledge could be a bit forbidding at times. Mostly when he was in a bad mood. He wonders, idly, what Pitch has done this time. It's not like he has a whole bunch of firepower now. He blows in through the globe room and finds everyone else already there.

"Bout time you showed up," Bunny grumbles at him once he lands. Sandy waves, but Tooth and North seem preoccupied with their previous conversation.

"What's up? World-ending catastrophes? Magical misadventures? The Kangaroo had an existential crisis when he realized that bunnies aren't natives of Australia? It's okay, you know, we all know you're secretly from Timbuktu." Bunny doesn't even rise to the bait. Something pretty bad, then. "Seriously. What happened?"

"Man in Moon has appointed new Guardian." North replied, finally pulling out of his hushed debate with Tooth.

"Wait, wait, _whaaat_? If you guys appoint new guardians this often, how are there not about a gazillion of you?" It's a valid question, he's only ever heard of the Big Four as far as Guardians go, and he's pretty sure that unless Nightlight or Katherine needed to be re-appointed, there really isn't anyone out there who'd really _want_ to be a Guardian. Not anyone useful, anyway. Some stupid bootlicking Guardian-worshipping-fanspirits might, but Jack doesn't count them as people. Except the helpers, like the fairies and yetis, they're great...but that's not the point. The point is whatever Tooth is telling him right now, which he's forgotten to pay attention to.

"...might be surprising, but...Jack? Jack? Jack. Jack!"

"Woah, woah, I spaced out there for a second. What was the last thirty seconds of that?"

Bunny bristles at his lack of attention/respect/stick-in-the-mud-ness. "What Sheila was _trying_ to say was that Pitch is supposed to be the new Guardian. And yer supposed ta make that happen."

Hmm, how about...no? He grabs Bunny by the shoulders and looks him straight in the eye as best he can. Stupid unfairly tall kangaroos.

"Bunny. Bunny, I want you to look me in the eye. How many fingers am I holding up? Have you been sneaking a little too much of North's eggnog? It's okay, the first step is admitting your addiction, we're here for you. Just tell me honestly how high you-"

Bunny cuts him off, which is just _rude_.

"Listen, Frostbite, the rest of us were as surprised as you. Remember how we told ya about how Pitch used to be someone else?"

Jack nods. Of course he remembers, he still hasn't apologized for the near-catastrophic blizzards in Antarctica that day. Luckily, the only ones around to care had been scientists and the penguins.

"Well, MiM says ya have something with the potential to bring the General back, if you wanted ta use it."

Jack leaps almost subconsciously into the air, his natural reaction to surprises. Ease of escape is never an issue is he can help it. Unfortunately, the Guardians decide that he's actually trying to _leave_, so he is shortly tackled by a pile of sand and North. One is considerably heavier than the other.

"Oof, ow, geroff," he mumbles through a mouthful of fabric from North's coat. They've learned too quickly and far too well his habit of simply _leaving_ potentially painful/awkward/longer-and-deeper than-small-talk conversations. He hadn't been about to fly off this time...well, not _yet_...

As Jack was trying (and failing, it might be said) to convince himself that the Guardians weren't perfectly justified in taking extreme measures to prevent his running off before the conversation was done, North was kindly getting off him and Sandy was doing the same...once there was a sand ball and chain attached to his foot. The little man crossed his arms, glaring fiercely and tapping his foot threateningly to make sure his point got across. Jack just resigned himself to the discomfort of being firmly attached to the Earth for the time being.

"Jack, I know it's kind of a lot, but that's just what Manny said. Don't worry, we'll help you find out what he means." Tooth fluttered worriedly, helping him to his feet.

Oh, that's _real_ reassuring. The Guardians will _help_ him attempt to bring back the dead. Hasn't anyone here read Frankenstein?

That's what Jack thought. What he said is, "..._what?_ Tell me, are you all suddenly crazy or something? Pitch is a super-powerful psycho. Sure, he's not so much one now, but do you seriously think he'll just stand there and let us kill him? That's assuming we can bring back...pre-Pitch Pitch, and assuming we even want to."

Of course, North zeroed in on the last part of his sentence. "Of course we want to! General used swords, meeting would be most interesting!"

Well, there's North's motivation. He probably hadn't been able to test himself sword-on-sword against someone since Tooth lost her swords or stopped using them or... "Tooth, whatever happened to your swords anyway? Didn't you have swords at some point?"

"Yes, I did, but I stopped in peacetime and didn't have time to get them before Pitch attacked the Tooth Palace. Jack, do you know of anything that could bring back the General?"

Well, there's the question he'd been avoiding. How to answer...? Well, he really wasn't sure what answer would be truth, so he'd have to get back to them on that. He stepped forward into the moonlight that had been illuminating their conversation, dragging his still-chained foot behind him. He looked up into the face in the moon.

"What do you mean, bring him back? Isn't he dead?"

The moonlight looked back at him. It said nothing. Jack isn't surprised.

"Right, stupid question. Better one, what do you expect me to do? Whole planets more talented than me tried to kill Pitch, and they didn't manage it."

In the moonlight that remained in front of him, a little shadow-crown appeared. It was beautiful and intricate, and Jack knew that is he were to see the real thing, it would be the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. It's also been destroyed for millenia, so Jack wasn't really sure what the moon wanted him to do about it. He raised an eyebrow, giving the moon his best skeptical look.

_It isn't gone._

Well, isn't that dandy? Some ancient crown that he has almost nothing to do with is supposed to take down the King of Nightmares. Some ancient crown that "isn't gone," which is helpful, but that doesn't mean they can do anything about it. Well, in theory, there are some things...

"So let me get this straight. You want me to try what an entire kingdom failed to do on the basis of the fact that the crown isn't 'gone?' What does that even _mean, _'gone?'"

Jack could practically _hear_ the man in the moon's sigh. Served him right.

_Don't be stubborn._

"Don't you patronize me! I'm not being stubborn, I'm pointing out that this is _stupid_! Sure, the Elemental Kingdom could bring people back to themselves when they went crazy. Sure, their crown isn't as destroyed as everyone thinks it is. But the entire _planet_ tried to bring Pitch down, and they all _died!_ I'm just the Spirit of Winter on some backwater planet a million galaxies away, there is no way I can do that! Not when they couldn't!"

The Guardians were getting anxious, not understanding their argument. They shifted in the background as it got colder and Jack got angrier, trying to get MiM to just _see_ that he can't _do_ this.

A different form appeared in the moonlight, and Jack reluctantly backed up to make space for it. It was him, staff in hand, staring down Pitch with a child clinging to his leg. A little girl. He remembered her. Not-Pitch and not-Jack looked at each other for a long moment before not-Jack took the child in his arms and flew off. Not-Pitch let him go without attacking, watching him fly out of the edge of the moonlight and disappear.

Jack understood, suddenly, what MiM was trying to show him. He wasn't trying to us the blood and glory of a dead planet to bring pre-Pitch Pitch back. He was using Pitch's soft spot for him—such as it was—and his knowledge of what broke and how it should be fixed.

When he looked at it that way, he kind of had to do it. He had to at least try.

"I still think this is stupid and we're all going to die. I'm just doing this to repay a debt. And don't go thinking I'll actually tolerate the bastard any more than before." He grumbled. Then he realized how much he sounded like a certain Pooka. He perked up to make up for it. "Besides, this'll be fun! I've never attempted necromancy before!"

The Guardians collectively sighed in relief, in their own ways.

"Now, what was that crown, Jack, How can we find it? What exactly does it _do?_" Tooth asked, excited.

"We don't actually need the crown, it was a symbol. I just need a couple of seconds to be able to concentrate on Pitch at close range, and kabam! Automatic unpitchifier. Now that I know what he was actually _asking_ for, this should be a piece of cake!"

* * *

It was not a piece of cake.

Sandy watched and helped as his fellow Guardians tried to distract Pitch enough for Jack to get up close, but Pitch seemed determined to keep Jack away from him as much as possible. Sandy wasn't surprised, as Pitch had never seemed to like approaching Jack head-on, even less so than he did the rest of the Guardians. They were all wearing out, and they were no closer than they'd been earlier. To add to that, Pitch kept taunting them, frustrating the fighters and making their strikes more wild, less skillful and damaging. Finally, exhausted by Pitch's endless dodging and melting into the shadows, the Guardians regrouped a bit away from where Pitch was. Jack, panting, reached into his hoodie and wordlessly handed Baby Tooth back to Tooth. The fairies weren't really supposed to come to fights, but Baby Tooth had a knack for sneaking along anyway.

"Oh. Is that all the great Guardians can do? Honestly, I'm a little disappointed," Pitch sounded bored. "I suppose it's my turn now? Here, This might work."

With that, he disappeared into shadow once more, before abruptly appearing behind Jack where he was stationed at the edge of their group, the better to dash suddenly to Pitch. Before anyone could react, before he had even finished reforming his own body from the shadows, he had a blade running through Jack's abdomen, entering in his back in a way that surely severed his spinal chord. They saw a second of Jack's surprised face and the Bogeyman's grin before Jack grinned, shakily.

"I win, Pitch Black," he whispered, before a mixture of ice and shadow _exploded_ from the two, forming a spiky dome.

"Jack!" Bunny shouted, racing to the edge of the gigantic structure and pounding frantically on it. He ignored the spikes on it, until suddenly liquid shadow wrapped around his wrists and yanked him away from the cocoon, just in time for him not to get hit by the additional spikes of ice that sprouted aggressively in his direction. A natural defense against an attack on the cocoon, maybe? But it was odd that the shadows were the less-dangerous counterpart...did the two switch powers?

Sanderson didn't have much time to ponder this, as the dome began glowing a light, icy blue, with shadows writhing and changing within it. In seconds, the compound had crumbled into rubble just as quickly as it had sprung into existence, and left only a football field's worth of rubble and a single body in the center.


	2. Chapter 1

The man—they aren't sure what exactly to call him now, as he is no longer precisely Pitch Black but Kozmotis Pitchner is supposed to be long gone—stumbles out of the shattered remains of the dome and coughs. The Guardians aim and ready their weapons, unsure whether to approach, flee, or attack. Baby Tooth picks her little body up and buzzes over to the remains of the dome, twittering frantically. Jack! Whatever happened in that dome they couldn't know, but Jack hadn't come out. Bunny stepped towards Pitch(ner?) and grabbed him by the front of his cloak.

"What tha fuck just happened? What did you do?!"

_Well_, Sandy thought, _that's one way of doing things_.

The Nightmare King, for surely that is what he is, whether he be Kozmotis or Pitch, looks bewildered.

"Where...? I could have sworn I was...and then I thought little Jokul Frosti was there, but he's..._what_...?" He certainly isn't acting like the Pitch Black they know and...well...know. But neither is he acting with the dignity he used to as a General. Perhaps Pitch is trying to fool them into thinking he's someone else? How would he know that that was what they were trying to do? But it doesn't matter soon, as North is waving his sword around threateningly and Tooth is pressing closer to search the rubble, which leads the General to choose a course of action. The instant North's swords swing a little too close to an particularly large bit of rubble, he fades into shadow, out of Bunny's grip, and reappears between the Guardians and the wreckage. He is holding, Sandy notes, a blade exactly like Kozmotis' made out of the purest shadow.

"Don't swing that around so carelessly! I don't know who you are, but I won't let you hurt him!"

Sandy decides that this might be a good time to step in to prevent heads from rolling. He disperses his whips—even if this is a trick, he can summon them back, and it's best to look like he's falling for it so they'll have the element of surprise later—and makes a little dove out of sand. One of the things he's always liked about this planet is that they have some remarkably similar symbols to the ones used in the Golden Age, so a dove will work in any situation. He sends it over to not-Pitch.

"Sanderson?" The man gasps in shock. Sandy gives a little wave, as a bow would mean taking his eyes off of not-Pitch.

"What's going on here? I remember all of these things that just couldn't...I would never have destroyed whole galaxies, would I? And the Lunanoffs..."

Sandy decides to play along, just for now. The Guardians are staying alert, but not approaching, so at the least he can distract not-Pitch enough for them to figure out what precisely happened to Jack. Or not, as Bunny looks rather like he's trying very hard not to kill not-Pitch before they find out where Jack is.

Sandy just looks at not-Pitch, willing him to think and distract himself, because he can't adequately describe the past couple of ages with sand.

"I...I did, didn't I. I just wanted...I thought they had Seraphina, I couldn't..." not-Pitch's weapon disperses as he falls to his knees, his face in his hands. So this is Kozmotis? Pitch certainly wouldn't know about how he came to be, so it's at least part of his old friend. This changes things, but Kozmotis can be traumatized when there isn't a possibly-dead Guardian to worry about. Sandy moves towards Kozmotis, making soothing gestures at both him and the remaining Guardians with his hands so no one goes back to hacking each other to pieces. Carefully, he makes a little sand snowflake and points between it and the shattered dome.

"Jokul! He's still in there! We have to find him, he might need help!" Kozmotis exclaims. Sandy had been fairly sure that Kozmotis had never known anyone named Jokul, but if he's decided that Jack's name is Jokul, at least it means he's helping. Sandy nods encouragingly, and the decision is reached that existential crises and automatic hatred towards their enemy can wait. They spend the rest of an hour going over the rubble again and again, increasingly desperately. Kozmotis goes from alarm to worry that would be endearing if he wasn't quite possibly the one who'd put Jack in this position. Finally, they've gone over every inch on rubble, those of them with helpers (minions, Sandy thinks mutinously, never having been particularly impressed with the fact that everyone but him gets to have help) have sent those for a look-over, and they've found nothing but an ice-and-shadow altar with a perfect replica of Pitch's blade on it. There's no blood, though Sandy's always suspected that Jack bleeds water rather than blood, and no indication that anyone's ever been there. Here they all gather to decide what to do next—after all, none of them want Kozmotis too close to Jack if they do find him, and they need a strategy to find him in the first place. Sandy refuses to consider that Jack might be dead. He suspects a similar feeling of denial is what's keeping the others going.

"Pitch. Where is Jack being?" Asks North of a restlessly-fidgeting Kozmotis. Another thing to watch, Kozmotis had never been this impatient unless disrespectful soldiers were involved.

"Jokul? I don't know, he just...he..." Kozmotis closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, straightening and drawing, Sandy presumes, on his military training to make a report. "While I was...still Pitch...Jokul Frosti had captured what was left of me and kept it within him. I don't think he was aware of it at the time. He's still a child, and now, he always will be. So when he wished with all his heart that I would regain myself, and when I—when Pitch—stabbed him with his shadows, his very core, their centers mixed. Jokul's belief that I couldn't have been lost to the shadows mixed with what was left of my...soul, I suppose. He brought me back, and now he's...not _dead_, he can't be dead _now_, but..."

"He's gone. He's _dead_, because _you killed him_! You didn't even know him! You just kill people, it's all you do! You bastard...!" Bunny had had too much. Sandy had known that it would happen, the difference between Kozmotis and Pitch had been vague at the best of times, but it was like Bunny to be entirely blinded by his emotions first and then consider things in a more rational light. Hoping to prevent disaster (when did he become the peacekeeper of the Guardians? Oh, right, when he was the only one here with any _sense_), he whacks the altar with a stick until Bunny stops ranting and working himself into a fury. Eventually, all eyes are on him, and he makes a little sword, an inequality sign, and a model Pitch. Hopefully he can guide them to ask some questions that will lead to the right answers...eventually.

"Yes, Sandy, we know that Pitch is not sword! If Pitch is sword, we would not have to attack!"

Sandy officially gives up. On everything. He wants his gravestone to read 'I cannot even handle how thick you all are.' Thankfully, Kozmotis seems to get the message.

"You are aware that the Bogeyman and I are separate entities, correct? I am the General Kozmotis Pitchner, I was essentially killed when Pitch was created, and we have no concrete evidence that Jokul is dead...I just told you that..."

"Sandy? Is that really true? Is that even possible? Tooth looks uncertain, and Baby Tooth pauses in the search she has yet to give up to look at Sandy.

Finally, they get it! He nods enthusiastically, hoping no one manages to mangle that into a no.

"Ah guess...if 'Pitchner's' soul was stripped down...and all the memories got stripped away...yeah, tha personality could split..." Bunny mutters.

"But that doesn't explain how you know Jack, or how he got your soul. I don't think much but teeth can store memories, and certainly nothing Jack could have gotten to." Tooth says, troubled.

"Of course he can store memories. A child's wish is powerful, and he wished with all he had that I would regain myself. If he had been older when he died, it would be different, but as it is, we should have know this would happen. It's unexpected, and Jokul Frosti lives on defying expectations."

"But how do ya know the brat? He wasn't around 'til a couple hundred years ago." Bunny insisted.

"A couple hundred years...? Tell me, do you know exactly what Jokul Frosti _is_?"

"A pain in the ass winter sprite is what he is. And why the fuck do you keep calling him that?!" Bunny exclaimed, frustrated.

Everyone's full attention is on Kozmotis, but Sandy's keen eyes catch the formation of some ice in the background, growing and swelling. He smiles just a bit and tunes back into the conversation.

"...Jokul Frosti is his name. I gave it to him two years before I was turned into the Bogeyman. He's a...I don't know what he is, actually, but he's something elemental. He died saving my daughter from drowning while his abilities were too unstable to save her without hurting her, and then came back to life. Past that, I can only assume he laid low during the War and ended up here. Perhaps he came by this planet with one of you?"

"But why wouldn't we know? And why would we just find this out now, wouldn't he tell us? We told him your story, why wouldn't he say he was there?" Tooth interjects worriedly.

"As I said, we can only assume. He may have taken on another identity, he might have intentionally avoided you, he may have been fighting the whole time. I can't imagine he would have had many reservations against fighting me, he was rather...wild when I knew him."

"Trust me, mate, you don't know the half of it. I have woken up with my fur frozen and dyed glowing purple, the brat's a little terror," Bunny gives his verbal stamp of approval to Kozmotis surprisingly easily, and the others will follow his and Sandy's examples. Perhaps this will be easier than it seems.

"Awwh! I'm so flattered that you all have such nice things to say about me when I'm supposedly dead! I really should do this more often." A familiar voice coos from behind them all.

"Jokul! What just happened? What did you do? Are you well, where's Seraphina, did I hurt her? Did I hurt _you_? Was she sad, how did she die? No one _married_ her, did they? No one better have stolen her innocence too early, dirty scoundrels! Was-" Aaand so much for Kozmotis regaining his dignity. Jack, for that was who it had been, laughed brightly and stepped into their circle, brushing off the concern of a swarm of tooth fairies and the less fluttery but no less smothering worried North as casually and gently as he could. Sandy did notice how Pitchner looked on in concern when Jack was surrounded briefly, and how when Jack rose into the air and prevented himself from being completely cornered, he relaxed.

"Sera became Mother Nature, she's still around! I'll take you to see her once we're done here. There were no dirty rotten scoundrels present for any amount of time. Just because she's a mother doesn't mean she had kids, either, she was completely male-free once you left. Now, one second..." Jack crouched down and picked up the stick Sandy had used earlier to hit the altar and Sandy is surprised to notice that it's his staff. He quickly conjured up a snowball and blew on it until it glows blue and icy. Kozmotis began laughing sheepishly, backing up just a little bit.

"Joke, I really don't think that's entirely necessary...haven't you already abused me enough? That wasn't even my fault, I wasn't even me during the whole destroying-galaxies bit, I don't think-"

He was cut off by an icy, slushy snowball to the face. Jack just grinned. "A promise is a promise, and I promised to hit you with a snowball is you ever acted like a jerk. Not my fault you forgot to account for soul-stealing tragedies," he sing-songed innocently, flitting around in the air around Kozmotis.

"Fine, next time we make an agreement, we are accounting for _all possible situations_. _And_ writing it out. Actually, _you_ are writing it all out while _I_ stay well enough away from snowball-wielding public safety hazards."

Sandy smiles at the entirely different dimensions Kozmotis is showing. He'd only really acted like this with his daughter, and if Sandy didn't know better, he'd have assumed that Jack was his son. Excepting, of course, the complete reversal in coloring.

"Jack! You are having much explaining to do. Come, we will go to Santoff Claussen and I will make hot chocolate for all. We will be having much conversation." North boomed. It's a wonder he has any snow globes left with how many Yetis he was summoning while they were searching the ruins, but apparently he has at least one, because he throws it and walks straight through, leaving the sleigh behind. Sandy can only assume they'll be coming back...or North forgot his sleigh and someone would have to get it later. Maybe the other Guardians had helpers because they were self-sabotaging enough to need them...? In any case, Jack yanked a now-airborne Kozmotis (who was looking rather terrified and clinging to him so as not to fall) through the portal, Tooth followed, Bunny opened up a tunnel just to be contrary, and Sandy left last, with one last glance back to the stage of all the excitement. They'd have to come back, he knows, but right now some hot chocolate and stories sound good.


	3. Interlude: a Fairytale

**A fairytale, as told to a Prince by a Queen.**

Once upon a time, there was a race of people who were called The Elementals. These people were just like everyone else, smart, passionate, and happy, with one difference. This difference wasn't something big and important, and it wasn't something that made them bad people. It was a gift, from the stars to their favorite children, so that they could play in new and special ways. The Elementals could each control an element-nay, they could _embody_ that element. They and their families and friends all had Elements, and they lived quite happily alongside the rest of the universe, laughing with their joys and crying with their tragedies. But that didn't last forever.

You see, other races, for all they were fantastical and splendid creatures themselves, were envious of the Elementals and the powers they were blessed with. They muttered that Elementals weren't safe, that they were waiting for a chance to attack and rule. Fear was not fought outright in those days as in these, not in the forms of Fearlings and Dream Pirates. It was a sneaky thing then, violent but uncontested until it's too late. And the Fear caused by jealousy was particularly powerful. So the Fear deepened. Night and day, it manipulated the hearts and minds of the men and women of the Colorful Age, until they hated and feared the Elementals. It created animosity and betrayal between neighbors, and soon the Elementals were hated by even the children, who watched and learned from their parents. Finally, something gave way. A Fire Elemental had fallen in love with a young maiden, and her furious father had forbidden the pair from marrying. Enil and Mereditia could not be separated, though. They loved each other with a passion few had seen before, and even fewer had experienced for themselves. Mereditia's father, Farense, finally issued a challenge—if Enil could fairly defeat him in single combat, he would allow him to marry his love. There was a catch, though. Farense had only said that the combat had to be fair and one-on-one, he didn't specify that Enil had to be the one playing fair. Farense could cheat and Enil would not be able to call him out on it without admitting that the combat was unfair and losing Meredita. Enil saw this, but he loved Meredita deeply and he accepted despite her pleas for him to stop. Farense came the next day to fight Enil, who had prepared to fight his hardest against a single, cheating opponent.

He had not anticipated that Farense would have hired another man to kill his own daughter. An assassin appeared out of nowhere with a sword, dashing towards Meridia, and-

Enil saw in a second what he had to do. He could finish the battle one-on-one and keep his honor, or he could break the rules and lose his love forever, but ensure her safety. He lashed out in an instant and killed the assassin.

While Enil was distracted calming Meriditia, Farense took out his bow and nocked an arrow slicked with oil. Elementals let out more of their Element than usual when upset, and Enil would surely catch it on fire in his shock over nearly losing his love. Farense drew back carefully and shot his own daughter through the heart.

As he had planned, the oil caught fire, and Enil, unable to stifle his own Element, watched her burn helplessly. Farense sneaked away as Enil burned the forest they had fought in in his rage and grief.

When he got back to their village, Farense cried, "Murder! Murder! That flaming _monster_ has murdered my daughter!"

The villagers gathered around, first confused and murmuring, and then more and more furious until they were but a mob, of one mind, wishing only to hurt and destroy the Elementals.

Enil died that day, and the Elementals were furious.

Men's cities burned and froze over and drowned. Crops failed. Plants refused to grow, and trees overtook houses. Blades dulled and rusted overnight. It was a small massacre.

The men killed Elementals, trapped them alone and stabbed them or hit them and killed them.

War raged on for centuries, until both armies were devastated. There was little left for either race, but both were fighting for their very survival, until a final, decisive blow was struck. In a battle called the Battle of Color, the Colorful Age ended. The Elementals and men put their last soldiers forward, soldiers that were little more than children or the old, unarmed, desperate soldiers fighting for survival. That day the Elementals fled from battle for the first time since the war had started. They finally knew Fear.

The Elementals ran from battle, ran from the solar system, fled the galaxy, kept running until they could no longer be seen even by their stars. They found a quiet planet to hide in, and began to live and grow again. The tiny lives of men passed, and they were forgotten.

However, their war was not finished.

The Elementals now knew Fear.

Slowly, their Fear consumed them, one by one, until only their royalty and their guards were free of it. And that brings me to _you_, my child, the last desperate hope of the Elementals. The little prince, the only Elemental which will never, _never_ know Fear. My child of frost. It won't be long until I turn into a corrupted Elemental myself, and you will be our last free Element. The men, who used to be our friends...they call us Fearlings now, and Dream Pirates. I hope you never have to see another Elemental again. Goodbye, my child! Bring joy, laugh in the face of Fear as a true Elemental! May your wind blow ever bolder and your ice ever colder!

**...I did warn you guys that this involved headcanon, right? Also, thank you to Agent Yaoi, my first reviewer!**


	4. Chapter 2

"That story was probably pretty biased, since the storyteller was the Queen of the Elementals. I mean, really? Elements turning into Fearlings? Nah, I'm pretty sure that's just children. And no one else remembers it, so we can't really know who the Elementals were. But...yeah. That's my family. After that, I pretty much wandered around 'til I crashed on a planet," Jack hopped down from the back of Kozmotis' chair, where he'd been perched.

"Now my throat hurts, so you get to finish this one off, fancy-pants."

Kozmotis, who'd been listening intently in order to Not Think About Killing People he was Supposed to Protect, scrambled to put together a reasonable report of the events he knew about in this particular story. He suspected Jokul had intentionally made him talk in an effort to aid him...or, more likely, to annoy him.

"Very well. After he crashed, Jokul was unconscious for some time, and I was sent with five others to find out why there had been a crash in the first place. We were attacked by a Fearling on the way, and one of us died, but our commanding officer bid us continue on, because it was possible that the crash was something to do with Fearlings, and we had to find out if it was.

"Fearlings had gathered around the crater by the time we got there, and while some were attempting to attack, others were fighting against them. It was unprecedented for Fearlings to fight amongst themselves, so we watched and waited. Eventually, the two factions killed each other off except for a very few of the attackers, who ran away. This, too, was unusual-normally Fearlings attack until they die.

"We approached the crater. I was next to last in line, I remember, and we went single file down a slightly less steep part. It was an accidental trail, but it served our purposes. Inside the crater was a huge block of light blue stone, we thought."

Kozmotis was actually fairly grateful to have this memory to immerse himself in, to stop him from thinking of-_fearpainBLOOD_-other things. The story might be bloody, but it was almost a comfort to tell a bloody tale that ended well, to give him hope that his own story would end in the same way.

"When we approached the block, we discovered that it was actually ice. It was cloudy and hard to see through, but it was certainly ice with what looked to be a person inside. It was a matter of a half hour or so to chip it away, as we only had swords. I had suggested getting something more practical, but I was a fairly new soldier, and was ignored accordingly. Not that my idea wasn't the _most intelligent and life-saving idea available at the time_..."

He was interrupted by the _adorable_ thorn in his side, just like he had been for the past eternity or so.

"Yes, we all know you're brilliant and deserve cookies and temples in your name. Idiot-bashing aside, ice-chipping dulls blades and wakes up lost Elemental children. So we've got one person who we know survives, stuck with a paranoid winter Elemental raised to fear humans as much as possible without actual Fear, and a couple of idiots dulling their weapons to make my life easier. We all know where this is going, yeah?"

Toothiana's wings fluttered in distress.

"Jack, you _didn't_...did you?"

Kozmotis picked up the story. He knew Jokul was still defensive about those men, and he wasn't exactly sure himself how right Jokul thought he was in his actions back then.

"As soon as we got close enough that we started to be careful lest we cut the person inside, he broke himself free. He began speaking, in a language we didn't understand. The _esteemed_ Captain of the party decided that he was likely a hostile force, and made moves that made it seem like he was going to decapitate the boy. Of course, Jokul acted accordingly: He froze the Captain's sword and shattered it."

Kozmotis knew he was biased, and he knew he was defending the boy. He wasn't inclined to care.

"After that, I knew that a mistake had been made, and for the first and only time in my career, I refused to attack an enemy. I put down my sword and backed away, just in time to calm Jokul for an instant. He looked at me and I could tell that he was deciding how to act according to how I delivered my offer of peace."

"Actually, I was trying to see if you had any food...I was hungry..."

"Shut up, Jokul. As I was saying, he was _clearly_ trying to decide whether or not we would hurt him, so I tried to communicate that I didn't want a conflict when my superior officer attempted to actually decapitate him, with another soldier's sword. Accordingly, he lashed out with ice and impaled the Captain."

"Asshole deserved it..." Jokul muttered.

"I am not afraid to gag you if you keep interrupting. As Jokul killed the Captain, the others attacked, but their swords were nearly useless, and Jokul was quite convinced that we were going to kill him, so he killed them in various ways. All of them were quick and painless."

Jokul looked quite like he would like to interrupt again, but a shadow covered his mouth before he could open it. Kozmotis...hadn't thought he could do that.

"In seconds, I was the last one alive. Jokul looked at me for a moment before he picked up my sword, handed it to me, and walked away. The warning was clear, but I followed anyway. We walked for about two hours, silently, as he explored and I watched him. I still wasn't sure if he was a threat-he had only attacked when hostile moves had been made towards him first, and I needed to know if there were others like him that might cause trouble. We finally ended up next to a pond, in a forest. There he stopped, and for a time we both sat by the pond. Then he stood abruptly, froze the whole pond over, and pointed first at his own bare feet, then at my shoes. I thought he was asking for shoes, so I took off mine and handed them to him.

"He grabbed them and made two blades on them, of ice, then handed them back to me. I'd given up on understanding at this point, so when he yanked me onto the ice, I wasn't even surprised. I was fairly sure I was going to die."

Jokul's eyebrows furrowed, and Kozmotis realized that he probably didn't know that Kozmotis had thought he'd be killed. Oh well, served him right for interrupting. He'd better not think Kozmotis hadn't noticed his attempts to escape the shadows, either.

"Surprisingly enough, he taught me how to ice skate. To this day I'm not sure _why_ he thought this was an appropriate action to take with a potential enemy, but we spent the better part of a day ice skating before I remembered that I _had a job_ and had to _actually report the deaths of my comrades_. I suspect Jokul's particular brand of magic had something to do with that."

Jokul looked very innocent, all of a sudden. He made a _who, moi?_ gesture with his hands.

"Yes, you. Yes, I would accuse you of such trickery. No, you are not allowed to form a complaint. By the time I realized that I had places to be, it was nearly dark out and I didn't think I could get home without running into a Fearling, and I wouldn't be able to take one out with my sword as dull as it was. Not alone. Jokul realized this at the same time, though.

"He pointed at my feet again, and I gave him my boots-turned-skates. He formed a blade of ice and began to hack off the skates, and I got an idea.

"I pointed at his blade, and then took out my sword and pointed to its own. With a little more signing, he eventually understood that I needed a blade, too. For reasons unknown to me, he decided that I was not going to kill him, and he gave me one. It looked exactly like mine, and even fit into the sheath, so I traded him. A little more wrangling, and he understood that not everyone sleeps in ponds, and I needed to leave, fast. He made a path, and repaired my skates, and we simply skated back to the crater. I'd assumed that I would be going back alone from there, but instead he cut off the blades of my skates and we both walked together.

"As I tried to get him to explain what he was even doing there, or why he existed at all, or _anything_, a Fearling attacked. It was surprising that it hadn't happened earlier, since we were walking outside of the city gates at night.

Jokul looked about to burst from the need to comment. Kozmotis felt a vindictive satisfaction. Years and yeas of never finishing a sentence, and now he could monologue as long as he wanted to! Not even the Guardians were interrupting...such bliss...

"What happened next changed the both of our lives. Jokul made a move to retreat, but I attacked, like any soldier would. There was a short skirmish, but the Fearling got an advantage-purely by _luck_, Jokul, don't you smirk like that-and Jokul ran back to me and froze it. For a moment the three of us simply stared, each as surprised as the next, before the Fearling shattered and Jokul ran away. I attempted to follow, but it was too dark and I lost him. I went home. Jokul went back to his lake, I assume. I reported that a strange Fearling had killed the members of my party, but the Captain had dealt it a mortal blow before his death. Life continued, and for months I didn't see or hear from Jokul again. I couldn't find my way back to the pond, or even to the crater. I began wondering which version of events had truly transpired.

"After a time, Jokul appeared at my home-I had a house at the very edge of the city, right next to the woods. I'd meant to move into the city proper for safety, but hadn't done it yet, so no one was around to see. Over time, he visited me again and again, and eventually we began to learn one anothers' languages. He was still as likely to ice my house over as to talk peacefully, but he had a habit of appearing when I needed help, and a legend began to show up about the boy in the woods who would save those who needed saving.

"Eventually I had a daughter...I think this is the part where you have to take over the telling again, Jokul." He didn't think he'd do too well recalling the time he almost lost his daughter-the time he _did_ lose the wintery child that had become like a son to him.

Reluctantly, Kozmotis removed the shadow preventing Jokul from talking. Well, he tried. It took a minute. Eventually he got it, which is the point.

"Whew! Okay, let's clear this up right now-that's all lies. I never iced over your _entire_ house, can you imagine the tantrum you'd throw if I did that? Also, I helped you learn to ice skate because I thought you would feed me. I was very betrayed when you went home and didn't bother giving me any food.

"BUT! All of that aside, storytime! Kozzy dearest had the most adorable little girl. She was as cute as a button. A spectacularly cute button. I don't know where she got it from. So I, being the best bad influence in the universe, took her skating all the time. But it happened to be spring, and also I was pretty young at that point. See, a young Elemental has less control than a dead one-which is to say, none at all. I couldn't freeze _anything_ around Sera or I'd risk freezing her, too, she was so young. Mr. General here would deserve it, but I might actually hurt her if I wasn't careful.

"So, of course, when the ice was too thin under her, I wouldn't freeze it up again, because it could hurt her. Actually, it definitely would hurt her, because she was touching the ice and she'd been around me enough that my powers would probably use her as a conduit. So I grabbed my staff-I'd gotten that in the years I was hanging around Koz-and shoved her off the pond, but I ended up falling in faster than I thought I would, before I could freeze things over again. Which _sucked_, because I panicked and accidentally froze the ice above me. Luckily, she was far enough not to get seriously hurt, but I might have hurt her with about three more inches. I did need to breathe at that point, so I suffocated and died. As I said, it sucked. I mean, there are bad ways to die, and then there are _bad_ ways to die. Accidental suicide via accidental heroic sacrifice via dumb idea is one of those _bad_ ways to die."

Jokul paused, and Kozmotis took a moment to look at the Guardians, to see how they were taking this. Sandy looked torn between being sad and wringing Jokul's neck, while the others just looked like Jokul had given them a puppy carcass for their birthday. And honestly thought it was a good present. And then stomped on it. One of the little tooth fairies (what _were_ those things? Little copies of Toothiana? Her children? Little possessed piles of glitter?) cooed sadly and patted Jokul's head from where she was perched in his hair.

"But yeah, that happened. Then I changed color schemes from my previous dorkily-adorable brown-on-brown to my current less-dorky-but-still-adorable white-and-blue-and-pale-as-death. No pun intended. And my staff upgraded! It used to just let me talk to the wind, but it started being a conduit! And then-"

"Wait. Wait. hold up there, mate. You're sayin' ya _died_?" Bunnymund asked. Well, at least he had almost caught up with the converstaion.

"Yep! But I'm fine now. Stars have always loved the Elementals, so I'm pretty sure they stopped me from dying and made me into the Spirit of Winter so that there would be at least one Elemental still around. Now hush, it's storytime." Jokul replied. Kozmotis could tell that the Guardians were unsettled by how flippantly Jokul was talking about his own death, and how lightly he had taken the decision to die, but they silenced themselves for the sake of hearing the whole story. He was pretty sure they could tell as well as he could that if Jokul didn't get to finish now, he never would. There was a hidden tension in his shoulders, and he kept getting picked up just slightly and tumbled around, as if the wind could tell he didn't want to be here. It probably could. But he was putting on a brave face of it, and Kozmotis couldn't tell if the Guardians knew those tiny tells from Jokul Frosti's general eccentricities.

"So, yeah. After that, our dear, _beloved_ Kozzy-coo gave me my _beautiful_ name, and we all hung out for a couple years until SOMEONE decided to **GET HIMSELF CORRUPTED BY FEARLINGS.** That was too bad, but, you know, c'est la vie. It's all good _now_, _isn't it_? And as soon as storytime's over, we're gonna talk about that. We will sit down somewhere nice and secluded where _no one can hear you scream_ and talk about Appropriate Behaviour when Guarding Prisoners, and then everything will be fine! But yeah, I laid low for a while during the war, and eventually crashed into this planet. I ended up in a lake with no memories, so for the longest time I thought I was born here. What actually happened is that SOME INTERFERING BASTARD decided to take my memories away WITHOUT ASKING, because he thought they would make me sad. Because there was nothing HELPFUL in those memories or anything, of course. I couldn't have, say, SOLVED ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS with them. That would just be RIDICULOUS."

"But if you could have un-corrupted Pitch back into Kozmotis as soon as you got your memories back, why didn't you?" Toothiana asked. It was a decent question, and Jokul scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't think I could. There _were_ a couple survivors of the Elementals, as it turns out, hidden away in corners of the universe like this one. One of them gave me my staff. But about a dozen of them, all very powerful, tried to bring back Kozmotis from Pitch, and they failed pretty badly. Elementals have some ability to bring people back to sanity once they've gone off their rockers, and these guys were no joke, but he killed them in about three seconds. Also, I was the tiiiniest bit bitter about the fact that I had to RAISE HIS DAUGHTER IN A WARZONE. That was a bit of a problem. I don't think it'll be a problem anymore, though, when she sees him she's probably gonna extract revenge for me. Anyway, the only reason I could bring our charming friend here back was because I knew what he was supposed to be like, and how everything had changed. Since most of the Elementals were corrupted the same way as he was, I already knew what was going on, and since he was human, I could fix it. It doesn't work with Elementals because once they've felt fear, they're either gone completely or they're immune, in which case the others usually killed them. Or, you know, I brought him back with the Power of Love and Friendship and Happy Thoughts."

"And with your center! Do not be forgetting your center!" North boomed, clapping Jokul and Kozmotis both on the back. The Possibly-Possessed Ball of Glitter-ahem, the tooth fairy-fell off of Jokul's head, the 'friendly gesture' was so strong.

"Right. That too. Now, this has all been lovely, but don't we have jobs we've been neglecting for the past day or two?"

Pandemonium instantly spread throughout the gathered Guardians.

* * *

**There you go. Jack is passive-aggressive: the chapter. Also, this is my longest and most expositiony chapter so far, so if you thought it was boring, don't worry. The plot will come soonish. Well, I say 'plot...'**

**Anyway, this chappie is dedicated to Lamiely Medford (you're adorable!) and my other anonymous reviewers. You have no idea how happy it makes me to see that I have reviews, and I spend a ridiculous amount of time melting over each one.**


	5. Chapter 3: HOLY SHIT IS THAT A PLOT?

A certain brat, it may be noted, had avoided actually answering any questions about the stories told to the Guardians. That particular brat happened to be playing with the wind at this moment, and refused to talk any further about it. He was, in fact trying very hard not to think about any touching reunions at all, because splashing the many _feelings_ all over was just _awkward_. After leaving the Guardians to catch up on their jobs-honestly, it was just sad how neglectful they could be without even realizing it-he and Kozkoz had learned how to travel through shadows. It was hilarious, how very alarmed Koz would get when he would accidentally fall farther into the shadows than he meant to. Eventually they had figured it out, though, and they'd spent the day looking for Seraphina, Kozmotis' daughter and Jack's (Jokul's?) pseudo-sister-ward-thing. He'd taken care of her until he'd crashed into this backwater planet and lost his memories, anyway. _She'd_ kind of needed to keep _him_ out of trouble after that. They hadn't really interacted outside of life-threatening situations once she'd heard that he didn't remember her-too painful, probably.

Anyway, they'd eventually found her, and there had been hugs and tearful reunions. If there was anything that could send him running for the hills, it was adults crying. What do you do with crying people, anyway?! This was why Jack stuck around kids! They could just have snowballs thrown at them, and they would stop leaking all over his snow, but _adults_ required _comfort_! Kozzy had been even more hopeless than he had, so he'd stepped up to the plate and explained, and then they all tried to kill each other for a while, and then it had been just fine.

Which led to now. Now he was playing with the wind and Not Thinking About Feelings. Stupid things got in his way and made people melt his snow.

The wind nudged him a little, and he almost lost his balance.

"Wooah, careful there! Where are we going?" Somewhere fun, he hoped. He could use a little fun. Carefully, he felt for an answer.

_winter-child-frost/dark-tall-(father?)/why-how-why?_

"He's just back. remember that burst of energy? That was him coming back." _I don't wanna talk about it, can we go?_

The wind sighed past his ears, but brought him out of his hover and into a dive.

_gust-snow-storm?/happy-play-beautiful?_

Well, it'd been a while since he'd had a good blizzard. _Sure. Let's go big or go home!_

He looked around-frozen wasteland. Brilliant, he was in Greenland. He called up a storm, felt the tugging in his gut as it responded to him. The wind whipped around him, tumbled him around as it ran and played.

_fun-yes-joy! _It cried. _cold-child-play!_

For hours they tumbled, snowing and frosting things all over. Problems and stress were carried off, and only play and _fun-happy-together_ remained for a time. Finally, he'd spent all of his energy, and the equally-exhausted Wind brought him falteringly to the ground.

"Ah, that was nice. Thanks, I needed that." He told it.

_happy-comfort-rest _it sent back.

Well, how could he argue with that? He settled into the snow, preparing to rest for a while before getting back to his life.

Well, he tried. And he really would have, honestly! But apparently bringing dead people back to life and then telling his life story and then the talk with Sera and then the blizzard had tired him out. Who'da thunk, right? So he accidentally fell asleep a little. And when he 'sleeps,' it's really a lot more like 'dies for a little while and then comes back to life if too much magic wakes him up or he has enough energy again.' So it might have been a liiiittle bad to fall asleep while Koz is still getting through emotional trauma and Sera's the only thing really keeping him from going all angsty. But he wasn't thinking of that when he fell asleep, so all events past that are really not his fault.

When he woke up, it is most certainly not because he had enough energy-if possible, he felt even more tired than he did before. But he was in a more magical location, and it was nice and cold, so he figured that Wind must have brought him up to the Pole and went back to sleep before he'd so much as taken a breath.

The second time he woke up, it's because someone shoved a bunch of magical ice in his face, and he is really _done_ with all of this sleep-interrupting magic going on.

"Whaddaya want? 'm sleeping here..." he mumbled.

"So kind of you to join me, Jack Frost. It _has_ been a while..." A smooth voice replied.

Shit. Jack knew that voice.

"General Winter? Honestly, do you have _nothing_ better to do?"

The hand on the back of his head tightened, and Jack realized that ice was not shoved in his face so much as his face was shoved into a wall of ice. That's not very nice, Jack officially does not approve of the General's bedside manner.

"Do I have nothing _better_ to do than reclaim my rightful place from the impudent brat who _stole my throne?! _No, I do not! Unlike you, I have _respect_ for Winter! I make it something beautiful, to be feared and worshiped! All you do is _play_ and _joke_ and ruin my masterpieces! I should be the Spirit of Winter, and not-"

"Okay. Okay. So you're mad that I...?" Jack was done. Really, he was just tired and wanted sleep, so he was not going to wait until this guy was done monologuing to figure out why he was here and leave.

"You shouldn't exist!" the General screamed.

"Look. If I had a nickel for every person who's told me that, it still wouldn't matter because none of us use money except Tooth. Can I leave now?"

"No! You will _listen_ to me and you will-"

Nope. Jack was done with this bullshit. He reached behind his head and yanked the foreign hand free from his hair. "That's great honey, now _goodbye_."

He didn't have his staff-was it taken from him?-but he was free to flip out of the General's space and to the side. There he took a decent look at his surroundings for the first time since arriving.

Shit. Didn't look like he was going anywhere.

* * *

**Sorry guys, it's short. And has a cliffhanger of sorts. But many, many kudos to Maddie, who I want to be when I grow up. Fare thee well!**

**Also, I posted a oneshot. I'm so proud of myself!**


	6. Chapter 4 I think it is!

**POV jump to show y'all how much I love you.**

Kozmotis could tell that the Guardians were worried.

It was terribly, horribly awkward to spend any time with them at all, but as he wasn't keen to go back to living under beds, he was temporarily borrowing a room from North. Possibly because no one else was quite sure what to do with him-North, at least, only cared about two things: He was a friend of Jokul's, and he knew what to do with a sword. There had been much sparring during his stay here, interrupted occasionally when North got an idea for an invention and forgot that they'd been fighting at all.

But when he did spend time with them, they kept casting their eyes about for their errant member, a wolf pack looking for its lost cub. It would be sweet if he didn't know how very uncomfortable Jokul would be with it. Eventually he lost patience with them all, when they were all congregating and making sad eyes at the empty spot next to him.

"Jokul would be unhappy to know that you're waiting for him, you know," he tells them.

They startled, looking for all the world like they were surprised he knew what they were thinking. Not like it was completely obvious or anything.

"Jokul doesn't like the idea of having a home to go to. He'd scare off in a second if he knew you wanted to see him, he's terrified of the idea of a family. He'll be back soon enough, but he was probably startled when he realized he trusted you with the history of the Elementals. Give him space to breathe, or you'll suffocate him."

"Oh, and I s'pose _you'd_ know? You've been _dead_ for the past couple millenia, kid could've changed some." Bunnymund argues back.

Kozmotis was...irrationally angry at that. Sure, the dead thing was a low blow, but what he's having trouble with is the implication that Jokul _outgrew_ him. That he left him behind.

"I could list more than a few reasons why you have no room to talk, but that's not my point. What I'm trying to say is that he'll only run faster if you chase after him. Let him alone for a few days-"

"So, what? So he can be alone some more? He's already been alone, no thanks to you! He doesn't need us abandoning him now just because-"

They're closer now, Kozmotis doing his best to tower over the Pooka who is actually taller than him.

"Jokul can take care of himself! He doesn't need anyone to-"

"To _care about him_? Because you've done such a bloody good-"

Shadows reached around Bunnymund and _squeezed_.

"Shut UP! There was _nothing_ I could have done! I was doing what I did to protect him! I would _never_ abandon my children!"

Suddenly Sandy was in front of him, gesturing frantically, and he realized how the shadows of the room were writhing and twisting. Carefully, he focused his rage inwards, concentrating on letting his shadows recede back to the corners of the room.

"I...apologize." He gritted out. "I should not have allowed my temper to get the better of me." He didn't apologize for the shadows that were only reluctantly letting go of a struggling Pooka, and certainly didn't apologize for his defense of his actions-he had become Pitch because he loved his daughter and thought she needed his help, and implying that he didn't care well enough for his children was _low_. He had done his best, and his children had hurt anyway. It was all he could have done, and now they have forever to make up for lost time.

Tooth made a threatening gesture at Bunnymund, and he cringed.

"Nah, yer right about Frostbite. He'd spook in a second if we showed up now." Bunnymund muttered reluctantly. "And we'll see him soon, 'e promised his best prank yet before he left last time."

The rest of the Guardians relaxed, and they were back to standing around with some mild conversation again. It's different now, though, more...soft. Companionable. Kozmotis hoped that was because they were taking his words about Jokul to heart and not because a constant state of worry was difficult to keep up. They passed the afternoon, and gradually the Guardians dispersed back to their jobs, never thinking that the screaming of the wind outside might actually mean something.

Jokul'd only been gone for a short while, a week at most. He'd be fine.

It wasn't like he'd been kidnapped or anything.

* * *

Jack was fairly certain he'd been kidnapped.

He was standing in the middle of a barred-off portion of an ice cavern, with the General on the other side of the bars. The corner he'd previously occupied was one of two that he could see, both right next to the rest of the General's side of the cave.

Behind him was a sort of a den, a rounded bit of cavern without an ounce of privacy to be seen. No way to bust himself out unseen, then. The bars looked to be some sort of metal, but they sparked with something Jack _really_ didn't like the looks of. There were no furnishings within the cave, but it looked to be made of ice.

"I see you understand your situation then, my _esteemed_ guest," General Crazy intoned.

Jack whipped around to face him-he was fairly sure they'd never met before, so he wanted to get a good look so he knew who to track down later.

General Winter was a graying, handsome man who looked to be in his thirties. He had dark hair and near-white eyes, with skin as pale as Jack's own. He was wearing a dark overcoat, and he really didn't look like a winter spirit at all.

"Sure, I understand that...well...no, can't say I understand much of anything here, sorry. Wanna run that by me again?"

The General scoffed. "Impudent child! I have brought you here, and trapped you, and now I will kill you! Aren't you frightened?"

Well, Kozzy-dearest was the current King of Fear, so being frightened would probably draw him to their position. That would just be _embarrassing_.

"Uh, no. Actually, it looks like you just stuck me in a cave. I mean, you took away my staff, which wasn't nice, but I'm not really seeing why I should be so afraid."

"Fool! You cannot destroy ice, you can only create it! So I will trap you in this ice and you will suffocate, and then _I_ will be heralded as the rightful Spirit of Winter! I will be loved and revered, and the people will cower and beg when my storms arrive..."

Fuck. Another monologue. You just _had_ to get him started, didn't you, Jack? Now he'd never get out before someone noticed he'd managed to get caught napping.

"Uh, you do realize how very badly that plan fails, right? First of all, I can't suffocate..."

"Lies! You will die and I will be the most powerful Winter Spirit ever! Even now, those bars are stealing away your energy, and soon it will all be mine! Hahahahahaa!"

Jack just sighed. "Really? Did you _have_ to do the laugh? I mean, this is pretty humiliating for me already, I really do not need you to add the laugh on top of it."

He was pretty sure he should be worried about the apparent power-stealing going on, but he had been caught _napping_. He didn't really have that much energy to steal when he was sleeping, so the worst that would happen would be him needing a nap worse than he had before. Not exactly threatening.

"Ah, I have no time for the desperate words of a minor sprite. I shall go out to enjoy my newfound power as King of Winter. Perhaps, if you are lucky, I will remember your helpfulness in some centuries and deign to bury your body! Fare the well, Jack Frost!"

The General frosted over the bars, spreading a webbing of ice between them that grew ever-thicker until Jack couldn't see past it.

"Fuck," was all Jack could say. "Now I have to wait until someone comes by with a blowtorch to melt me outta here. Goddamnit, why did I think it was a good idea to make a blizzard?"

Well, he doesn't have to wait all that long, he supposed. Wind was probably already trying to rend bones and kill people, so it would probably wear the mountain down in a matter of a year-maybe less, depending on whether he was in a mountain or a series of caves. But then he would be a damsel in distress, and if there was ever something that Jack was not, it was a damsel in distress. Which left him with very few options-being obnoxious until he got thrown out was nixed by the fact that the General wasn't here, as was seducing him. Unfortunately. He _was_ pretty handsome once you got past the batshit crazy part.

But Jack was nothing if not stubborn, so he kept thinking. Trying to freeze anything at all would take even more energy, and he didn't have enough to lose, nor did he have his staff. Contacting someone to help him would be even more humiliating than being rescued by the Wind. Going to sleep until he had more firepower...no, the bars on his cell would absorb anything he managed to achieve. Overloading the bars probably wouldn't work if they were made to house all of his power, and besides, he couldn't touch them...because...of all...that...ice...

Jack laughed, loud guffaws that bounced off the ice all around him. The _ice_! Of course! Stupid General Winter had coated the bars in a thick layer of ice! Ice that was connected to the General's powers! Ice that would let the bars drain the General until he figured out what he'd done, and came back! Jack didn't know how long he had to prepare, but he'd have to be ready to escape by then, because he probably wouldn't get a better chance. Hopefully the General's ice would prevent the bars from draining him until he was out.

Thus decided, Jack reached into his hoodie pocket-the hoodie had been a gift from a wizard he'd helped out when those guys were still running around, and the pocket was actually a little alternate dimension that existed solely to house stuff. And the hoodie changed styles to match the current generation! Jack loved his hoodie. He felt around, looking...ah! There it was!

Jack had gotten a little obsessive in his early years of hoodie-ownage and put some things that weren't generally necessary in there.

A lot of things.

A..._lot_ of things.

As in, there was a lot, then there was thrift store levels of stuff, and then in the next galaxy over there was Jack's-hoodie level of stuff.

Yep.

So with no small amount of rummaging, and nearly having his hand bitten off by what may or may not have been a dragon or possibly a plushie, Jack found a jackhammer. Yes, he had been feeling very punny the day he got that. No, he did not have a jackrabbit.

Thus armed, he felt prepared to hammer himself a tunnel out of the cave. This was gonna be fun!

* * *

Jack would like to submit to the committee a law that disallows him from ever making predictions again, because he is always, always wrong.

* * *

**Aaand...that's a wrap! No one knows that Jack's in trouble yet. Also, I got entered into a community! ADjgaoerhgWHAT?! I can't even...**

**But yep. That happened. Also, headcanon time: Kozzy has repressed 'nuuu I abandoned my childs' feels. He is very touchy about them, and feels just a touch bitter towards the Guardians for being around when he wasn't, and for leaving Jack alone. He doesn't consider himself and Pitch to be the same person, because if he did, he would go crazy.**

**Bunny is rougher towards Koz because he's not sure what to do with this sudden person in all of their lives who Jack actually trusts and likes, because that just doesn't happen, and also because he doesn't think Koz was a very good parental unit to Jack.**

**Shake that up and let it sit and you get fights allll over.**


	7. Chapter 5 Umm Never Mind

Jack wasn't sure how long he'd been hammering away at the ice, but he was fairly sure it'd been a century. Or at least five minutes. Either way, the stuff kept growing back! No matter how long he went at it, with anything from a scimitar to a frozen jar of spaghetti sauce, it just wouldn't tunnel! Eventually he had to give up and seek alternate ways of escaping.

The problem was that he was in fact trapped with in ice. He couldn't stop ice from existing, and he apparently couldn't cut through it, either. Ironic how Elementals kept having their own elements turned against them. The Wind wouldn't be able to wear the ice down, either, so he would have to wait until the world decided to heat up and melt the mountain. That would be millenia of waiting. Hundreds of thousands of years with _nothing_ to do. Forget power sapping, he would die of boredom before he got out!

And...he would miss all of Koz's firsts. He wouldn't be able to see him for millenia, after he'd already lost him for hundreds upon thousands of years before...he might be forgotten, left here to wait forever.

_No!_ Jack blinked, hard, and refused to admit to how wet his eyes felt. _Think of escape. Think positive. Once you get out, you can stick around Kozzy and refuse to leave him alone. Focus!_

His only real hope was to wait until General Winter came back-presumably he'd make the ice breakable again so that he could get his own ice off the bars to avoid having his powers drained until he died, and then Jack might be able to escape. Escape and see his almost-father, and his almost-sister, and his almost-family. How to keep the General from stopping him from escaping, though?

Well, a nice whack over the head might take care of the General for a while, and if timed properly, he could get out then. The General would be dead meat once he got out, and all would be happy, and no one would notice a thing. Yeah, that sounded good.

So Jack waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Went back to sleep for about two weeks.

Woke up and waited some more.

Seriously, was this guy _stupid_?! Jack had to wonder after what he estimated to be almost a month of boredom. The cave had an eerie, shadowy glow to it, so it was difficult to tell what a 'day' might be, but this was just ridiculous. He walked up to the ice that hid the bars, to see...

Oh.

There was no magic in that ice anymore.

The General was...gone.

Well.

"Uh, here lies what remains of the idiot who decided to kill me...? I didn't even like him, but he was a Winter spirit, so...I guess that's pretty sad..." Yeah, Jack was never gonna deliver another eulogy again. He was terrible at it.

"Yeah, whatever. I can't believe this." He groaned. "Not only did I get _kidnapped_, while I was _sleeping_, but now the only guy who actually knew where I am is _dead_, because he was stupid and let his powers get drained by his own trap. Why does this always happen to me? I mean, is there a sign on my back? This guy needs more what even in his life, please assist? Does someone organize all of this? Because I would really, really like to meet that person. I have words that I would like to share with that person. Just...how? Why? Is it even possible for one person to have this much stupid in their life? I'm gonna blame the Moon. Goodness know everything else is his fault!"

Well, ranting wasn't helping, anyway. He had to get out, if the General was dead that probably meant that the spell regenerating the ice was undone, and he could happily smash through it.

And right as he was about to do just that, someone did it for him.

* * *

Sitting in the windowsill not far from the globe room, someone was brooding. Kozmotis had had to admit, as days turned into weeks and weeks turned into _more than a month, _that he may have been wrong, and Jokul may possibly have been in more trouble than he'd thought. Not that he was _worried_ or anything! Just...rightfully concerned. Jokul knew his way into trouble, and not always his way out.

Jokul had disappeared for longer than a month at a time before, of course, and with less provocation, but there had always been some reason, some kind of warning that he wasn't going to be around. Often in the form of a Blizzard of Ultimate Unhappiness. That he had said nothing, had even implied that he'd be back soon, was...troubling.

Then, just as Kozmotis had been contemplating looking for the boy, there was a huge feeling of terror somewhere in the world. A spirit's fear. No other fear felt exactly like a spirit's worst fear being realized, and this fear felt wintry Immediately he shot out of the corner he'd commandeered solely to sulk in, alarming a passing elf, and shot towards the fear, using shadows as transport until he ran out at the edge of a blizzard.

The Guardians were already there-when had they gotten there? How had they known? It didn't matter, though. Nothing mattered so much as getting to the center of the storm. He began to walk inwards, but his progress was slowed by all the snow in the way. Why was there snow in his way? Even at his most upset, Jokul had never put snow intentionally in his way. Unless...was he upset at Kozmotis himself? He'd been a terrible parent to Jokul, even though he'd considered the boy his son. He'd left him alone for millenia, and forced him to hide in order not to hurt him.

Kozmotis felt a surge of guilt. He should have done _something_, done _better _for his children...he should never have allowed Pitch to exist...

He was interrupted from his angsting when he was lifted by the back of his cloak and shoved into a sleigh.

"Walking is no good. Use the sleigh instead! Is much faster!" North boomed.

Kozmotis stopped struggling and settled between Toothiana and Bunnymund; the sleigh would be faster than going on foot, and the blizzard didn't have much in the way of shadows to travel in.

After some near-misses with trees and the ground, the heap of Guardians was thrown into the eye of the storm. Here Kozmotis could feel the fear, and it didn't taste quite right. It was fear of death, of powerlessness, and it was someone's greatest fear. Jokul had rarely feared either, and certainly not as intensely as this. As much as Kozmotis might have wished Jokul _would_ fear death a little, just enough to actively avoid it, this wasn't him.

So who was it?

A whimpering groan was enough to send Bunnymund bounding over to a heap of snow, and Kozmotis is reminded unpleasantly of his rebirth. Shoving the memory away for later, he followed, and watched as Bunny dug for a second or two before uncovering a man who looked to be thirty or so. He had dark hair and seemed inches off from death, but he was very slightly transparent, which tipped them off that this may not be a mortal they were dealing with.

"Who're you?" the Pooka asked the man.

"I...I am a fool," came the whispered reply. "I dabbled in forces I was not to disturb, and now I am punished for it. My only redemption as I pass on is in the certain death of my enemy...If I am not to rule the winter, then there will be no other...I will die in peace."

And then, as if he was clinging to life just so he could be dramatic one last time before he died, the man faded and turned to ice, leaving his blizzard to blow itself out.

"Well, that was helpful. Blighter couldn't have been more annoying if he'd tried." Bunnymund muttered.

"But that sounded like Jack he was talking about. No one else can rule winter? Jack's the only winter spirit I know of," Toothiana worried.

"Ye knew of this guy, then? I say Kozmotis was right, Snowflake can take care of himself. There's prolly a gazillion winter spirits hanging around we've never heard of, and now there's two less." the Pooka argued.

Kozmotis decided that this was an excellent time to mention his worries from earlier, which had led to his involvement in this investigation in the first place.

"Actually, I suspect that all may not be well with Jokul. He rarely disappears for this long without warning, and you said yourself that he was going to play a practical joke on you. It's unlike him to leave this kind of thing hanging. I fear something may have preoccupied him in order to prevent him from contacting us for this long." By which he meant: Jokul is probably dying, we should fix that now.

"Why did you not say anything sooner? We will go to find Jack now!" North decided, breaking into the forming argument.

"Very well, but do we have any way of knowing where he is? I don't think I can find him unless he happens to be afraid," Kozmotis asked.

There was a moment of silence as each Guardian tried to figure out how exactly one goes about tracking down someone with the Wind at their side, especially when there was a chance that that someone didn't want to be found. Sandy raised a hand, almost seeming to have an idea, but then shook his head.

"Great. So now that we think Frostbite might be in trouble, we can't find the little blighter. Tooth, can your fairies look out? They might find him, he seems too like them." Bunny looked frustrated, but there was really nothing more to be done.

"Right! We will be finding him soon!"

* * *

A month later (a month too long!), a hyper-vigilant Kozmotis felt a tickle of cold, wintry fear at the edge of his mind. It was subtle and tiny, but it was there and it was familiar. It could have been no one else but Jokul. Wary of another blizzard, he first told North that he'd found Jokul..._Jack_! He called himself _Jack_ now...and they hurried to summon the other Guardians.

They flew farther and farther south, following that tiny flicker of suppressed fear to the Antarctic. They landed, eventually, at the mouth of a cave that practically _screamed_ magic.

"Do you think he's down there? Maybe he made his own palace!" Tooth enthused.

"If that were the case, he wouldn't be afraid. He's suppressing it well, but he is a little bit afraid, so he's likely in trouble. We should be cautious." Kozmotis supplies. Sandy seems to agree with him, and Toothiana seemed willing to at least consider the point, but Bunny and North apparently don't care about silly things like tactics and subtlety as they summoned their respective warrior-helpers and charged straight in.

"Oi! Snowball! Where are you? If this is a prank, I'm gonna tan yer hide!"

Kozmotis wonders sometimes how these people defeated Pitch, who supposedly had kept some of Kozmotis' intelligence. Then he remembers vague memories of dancing on globes and other ridiculousness, and all doubts are eradicated.

With a sigh, the remaining three Guardians entered the cave, not even surprised when Baby Tooth appeared from...somewhere.

Kozmotis could see that the cave was made of ice, with some residual magic that implies that it was at one point made of magic, instead. Perhaps magical ice. It had no noticeable furnishings except for a blurry window of ice that Kozmotis could barely see through. There was one blur through it, though, bluer than the ice was with brown at the bottom. He watched as it moved agitatedly from side to side, before coming straight up to the window and touching it. That was Jokul! But as contact was made with the ice, a surge of fear was repressed. Jokul was refusing to be afraid of something, perhaps the bars were hurting him? Maybe he was afraid if them, the Guardians? They should approach the bars carefully, they could end up hurting Jokul himself if they weren't-

A yeti smashed through the window.

Great.

Kozmotis swept forward, trying to get to Jokul before something bad happened. Jokul was sitting on the ground, apparently having been knocked back, by the crash of breaking ice, but otherwise in perfect health. As he approached, Jokul's face lifted and broke out into a relieved smile brighter than the sun.

"Jeez, I thought you guys would never find me!"

They both will blame spontaneous delirium for what happened next.

He swept the boy up in a tight hug, practically squeezing the life out of him as he tried to reassure himself that _his boy is safe_. All of the pent-up worry and guilt from the time when he was Pitch, all the concern over Jokul's disappearance, it all came pouring out in that moment. He felt Jokul stiffen for half a second, and then relax until he was squeezing just as hard. The two of them barely notice the Guardians trying to keep quiet and discreet in the background. All he can think of is that his children are back, and he has them back, and they can have the rest of eternity together. As a family. At last.

* * *

**First: Should I write a prequel with mini!Jack running around bothering Kozzy and Seraphina?**

**Whew! Wasn't expecting that. I didn't think I was going to end it this chapter, but the ending appeared. Yeah, Jack was wrong about how long he was missing for. And also, those two are so passive-aggressive and emotionally repressed that they managed to put off their tearful reunion, but the prospect of losing each other again was a bit too much. And I wanted a hug scene. That too.**

**Uh, I hope you enjoyed! I love you all, truly and personally, and I never would have gotten this down without you. Did you know I had viewers from Finland?! You're all so thoughtful and kind, I'm glad to have been able to present to you my talents, such as they are. A list of all y'all who reviewed, since I can't find a list of who viewed without reviewing:**

**Mystichawk, Maddie, and Agent Yaoi, my lovely and most consistent three reviewers without whom nothing would ever have happened;**

**Angelic Frost, lilyflower5189, Jokermask18, and skywright, my non-anons;**

**Sarah L, anon, and Raver's Spirit, my anons; and**

**Lamiely Medford, who is adorable.**

**Thank you all so much!**


End file.
